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Rudolf Steiner e.Lib
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The Gospel of St. Matthew
Rudolf Steiner e.Lib Document
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The Gospel of St. Matthew
On-line since: 15th January, 2017
The Gospel of St. Matthew
Rudolf Steiner e.Lib Document
Lectures Section
The four Gospels, Steiner says, are meant to supplement one another to form
a comprehensive picture of earthly and spiritual events. The Matthew Gospel
describes Christ Jesus in his human aspects so that he is more near to us
in a human sense. From an understanding of the Gospel of St. Matthew 'can
stream into us courage in life, strength and hope in our labors.'
By Rudolf Steiner
Translated by Dorothy S. Osmond and Mildred Kirkcaldy.
GA 123
The four Gospels, Steiner says, are meant to supplement one another to
form a comprehensive picture of earthly and spiritual events. The Matthew
Gospel describes Christ Jesus in his human aspects so that he is more near
to us in a human sense. From an understanding of the Gospel of St. Matthew
“can stream into us courage in life, strength and hope in our
labors.”
These 12 lectures, from the lecture series,
The Gospel of Matthew,
were published in German as,
Das Matthaeus-evangelium.
This translation is presented here with the kind permission of the
Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung,
Dornach, Switzerland. From Bn 123, GA 123, CW 123.
Copyright © 1965
This e.Text edition is provided through the wonderful work of:
The Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co. London
and
The Anthroposophic Press New York
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Thanks to a donation from the LA Branch Study Group, this Lecture Series has been made available.
| Cover Sheet |
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| Publisher's Note |
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| Introductory Notes |
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| Summaries |
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| Lecture 1 |
September 01, 1910 |
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The four
Gospels present different aspects of the greatest event
in the history of the Earth and of Mankind. Keynotes and
characteristic features of each Gospel. St. Matthew's
Gospel depicts Christ Jesus as Man during His sojourn on
Earth. All the qualities of the blood of Abraham, the
progenitor of the Hebrew people, were concentrated in the
physical constitution of Jesus of Nazareth. The mission
and function of the Hebrews in the evolution of humanity.
Movement of peoples from West to East as a result of the
Atlantean Flood. Atlantean and early post-Atlantean
clairvoyance. Gradual development of the faculty of
sense-perception. The soul-qualities of early
post-Atlantean peoples. The great antithesis between
Turanians and Iranians. The legend of Djemjid and the
golden dagger. The Zarathustra-Individuality: his
teachings, influence and subsequent incarnation into the
Hebrew people as Jesus of Nazareth.
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| Lecture 2 |
September 02, 1910 |
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Dual
principles of Zoroastrianism: Ormuzd (Light) and Ahriman
(Darkness). These derive from a single, undivided origin:
Zeruane Akarene, generally translated as
‘uncreated Time’. The mysteries of Space and
Time. Zarathustra's influence upon later cultures through
Hermes and Moses, his former pupils. Contact made between
Sun-wisdom (Hermes) and Earth-wisdom (Moses). Earthly
events are reflections of happenings in the Cosmos and
can be expressed in pictures derived from cosmic
phenomena. Stages in the development of the wisdom of
Moses on the path of return towards the Sun. This process
is portrayed in the history of the Hebrews. Mercury stage
reached at the time of David; Venus stage at the time of
the Babylonian captivity. Contact made with a stream of
wisdom from Asia, present in modified form in the
Babylonian and Chaldean Mysteries. Zarathustra,
reincarnated as Zarathas or Nazarathos in the sixth
century
B.C.,
became the teacher of Pythagoras and of the
learned Hebrews, Chaldeans and Babylonians. Origin of
Hebraic racial stock. Transformation of corrupted
Atlantean-Turanian clairvoyance into a force operating in
the inner constitution of the Hebrews. Experience of the
Divine concentrated in man's own being, in the blood
flowing through the generations.
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| Lecture 3 |
September 03, 1910 |
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Interaction
between Thot-Hermes and Moses as the reflection of a
cosmic process. Processes of densification and
rarefication in cosmic evolution. The ethers and the
elements. Consequences of separation of Sun from Earth.
Man's faculty of clairvoyance during the epoch of
Atlantis enabled him to perceive the spiritual
backgrounds of material existence during an intermediate
state between waking consciousness and sleep. When man
sleeps today, forces from the whole solar system are
drawn into his astral body and Ego, but he is unaware of
this while separated from his physical and etheric
bodies. Awareness of the sound-ether (‘harmony of
the spheres’) and the life-ether vanished with the
loss of ancient clairvoyance to the extent to which man
felt himself an Ego. Cosmic events (separation of Sun and
Moon from the Earth) reflected in the life of man and in
the evolution of his consciousness. The three offerings
made by the Zarathustra-Individuality. The mission and
function of the Hebrew people. Talmudist legend of
Abraham. Abraham was the first into whom was implanted
the physical organ of thinking (as opposed to
clairvoyance) through which knowledge of the Divine could
be acquired. Transmission of this organ through physical
heredity from generation to generation. After three times
fourteen generations (Abraham to David, David to
Babylonian captivity, captivity to Joseph), the physical
constitution established in rudiment in Abraham, together
with the etheric and astral sheaths, had reached a state
of perfected development and could become the body needed
for the incarnation of Zarathustra in preparation for the
descent of the Christ.
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| Lecture 4 |
September 04, 1910 |
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The form of
knowledge of the Divine possessed by the Hebrews through
contemplation of the Folk-Spirit flowing in the blood of
the generations. Jahve was the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, manifesting himself in the Folk-consciousness.
Identity of this God of the Hebrews with the God
venerated in the Mysteries of all ages. Meeting of
Abraham with Melchisedek, formerly the great Atlantean
Sun-Initiate and
Teacher of the Rishis and Zarathustra. Prophetic
announcement by Zarathustra that Christ, the Sun-Spirit,
would come to the Earth in a human body. The Sun-Mystery
was imparted to Abraham by Melchisedek, manifesting
himself through the etheric body of Shem. Reflection of
the ordering of the stars in the sequence of the
generations of Abraham's descendants: images of the
zodiacal constellations in the twelve sons of Jacob and
the twelve tribes of the Hebrews. Evolution of the Hebrew
people as an image of cosmic evolution. Preparation of
the blood for the body in which Zarathustra was to
incarnate as Jesus of the Solomon line. Reference to the
beginning of Genesis. Significance of the fact
that the gender of ‘Ruach-Elohim’, rendered
‘Holy Spirit’ in the Bible, is feminine. Contributory
streams (Therapeutae and Essenes) in the preparation of
the Christ Event. Influence of the Bodhisattva who will
become the Maitreya Buddha. Jeschu ben Pandira, a herald
of Christianity and a leading figure in the Essene
communities about a hundred years Enc., is not to be
confused with Jesus of the Gospels.
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| Lecture 5 |
September 05, 1910 |
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The
Bodhisattvas as the great Teachers and Inspirers of
humanity. A Bodhisattva is a Teacher until he attains
Buddhahood; from then onwards he is a life-bestowing
power. Gautama Buddha and the Nathan Jesus of St. Luke's
Gospel. Communities of the Essenes and Therapeutae chosen
to be instruments for the teachings given in preparation
for the coming of Christ by Gautama Buddha's successor in
the office of Bodhisattva. The work and destiny of Jeschu
ben Pandira a century before the appearance of Christ.
The aim of the Essene Initiation: clairvoyant experience
of the secret of the 42 generations from Abraham and
vision of the mysteries of the Cosmos. Preparation of the
bodily constitution for the Jesus of St. Matthew's
Gospel. Preparation of astral body and Ego-bearer as
vehicles for the Christ. This aspect described in St.
Luke's Gospel. Secrets of number in the stages of the
descent of the Divine-Spiritual Power into a human
Individuality and in the expansion into the Cosmos as
depicted in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke.
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| Lecture 6 |
September 06, 1910 |
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In St.
Luke's Gospel the lineage of the Nathan Jesus is traced
back to Adam, to God, i.e. to the epoch when man's nature
was still divine. Descent of man in Lemurian epoch from a
divine spiritual existence into the earthly world.
‘Adam’ signifies ‘Earth-man’.
Generations were formerly of much longer duration. In the
Atlantean epoch man's memory extended to the experiences
of his ancestors and was not limited to his single,
personal life. The same name — e.g. Adam, Noah,
Seth, Enoch — used for several successive
personalities in the sequence of generations. Teachings
imparted to the Essenes through Jeschu ben Pandira
relating to the preparation of the physical body and
etheric body in which Zarathustra would incarnate as the
Solomon Jesus. Purification and experiences undergone by
the Essenes. In the process of Initiation they were
transported in soul through the 42 stages represented by
the generations from Abraham. This aspect is presented in
St. Matthew's Gospel. The other aspect is described in
St. Luke's Gospel: the 77 names in the genealogical table
denote stages leading to the level of the
Divine-Spiritual Power which permeated the astral body
and Ego-bearer of the Nathan Jesus. The work and pupils
of Zarathustra (as Zarathas) in the occult schools of
Chaldea in the sixth century
B.C.
The three Magi led to
the birthplace of their former Teacher in Bethlehem. The
Nazarite: occult training for development of soul and
body continued by Essenes. The five special pupils of
Jeschu ben Pandira: Mathai, Nakai, Netzer, Boni, Thona.
Colony of Essenes established in Nazareth by Netzer.
‘He shall become a Nazarene.’ Content of
early chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel derive from Jeschu
ben Pandira through his pupil Mathai. The Solomon Jesus
and the Nathan Jesus. Fulfillment of words contained in
the so-called ‘Egyptian’ Gospel.
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| Lecture 7 |
September 07, 1910 |
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It is a law
of evolution that if new faculties are to awaken in human
nature they must have been present in their fullness at
some one time in a single personality. Qualities and
attributes of the Eightfold Path: the initial impulse for
their development in humanity was given by Gautama
Buddha. Twofold process of Initiation in the
pre-Christian Mysteries. Expansion into the Macrocosm and
the twelve necessary standpoints symbolised by the
zodiacal constellations. Conscious penetration into the
Microcosm, i.e. into the physical and etheric bodies.
Dangers accompanying each process without due
preparation. Twelve helpers of the Hierophant in the
Egyptian and Northern Mysteries. Christ's coming made it
possible for man to experience the two processes of
Initiation in freedom and independence. The human sheaths
for the descent of Christ were prepared by the
Zarathustra-Individuality. His third offering. The
Solomon Jesus and the Nathan Jesus. The Baptism by John.
Having assumed the nature of man, Christ lived through as
an example the processes of descent into the physical and
etheric bodies (the Temptation) and of expansion into the
Macrocosm (events from the Last Supper onwards).
Processes of the two aspects of Initiation hitherto
concealed in the secrecy of the Mysteries were enacted by
Christ in the arena of world-history.
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| Lecture 8 |
September 08, 1910 |
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The Essene
Initiation: consciousness led beyond the forty-two stages
or generations to Jahve. Dangers accompanying knowledge
of man's own inner nature. Egoism, often unrecognized, is
aroused and enhanced. Dependence of an aspirant for
Initiation upon teachers and helpers was to cease; the
feeling of ego-hood was no longer to be suppressed but
full awareness maintained. The essence of Christian
Initiation is that the ‘I’ remains as awake
in the higher worlds as in the physical world.
‘Malkhut’ or the ‘Kingdom’. The
three stages of ancient Initiation. Expressions used in
the secret doctrine of the ancient Hebrews for attributes
of the Beings whose realms man reaches through
penetration into his own inner nature. (The Sephirot.) At
the first stage, astral body must be experienced from
within before penetration of the etheric and physical
bodies is possible. Second stage: experience of realities
revealed by the etheric body. Third stage: penetration
into the physical body is connected with experience of
the lofty Spiritual Beings who have worked upon it since
the Saturn-evolution and whose intrinsic quality
manifested itself as pure, awe-inspiring Wisdom. Jeschu
ben Pandira taught of ‘One who will bring the nine
attributes of the Kingdoms of Heaven into Malkhut, the
realm in which the Ego of man is actively present’.
The Temptation described in St. Matthew's Gospel: the
three stages lived through by Christ Jesus outside the
Mysteries, making possible the ascent of the human
‘I’ from the kingdom of Malkhut into the
higher worlds. The Sermon on the Mount.
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| Lecture 9 |
September 09, 1910 |
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Maintenance
of full Ego-consciousness when rising into the spiritual
world was made possible by the mighty impulse given by
the Christ Event. Happenings formerly shrouded in the
secrecy of the Mysteries were now transferred to the
arena of world-history. Experiences arising in ancient
modes of Initiation undergone at an infinitely higher
level of consciousness by Christ Jesus as a pattern for
mankind. Similarities in accounts of ancient
Mystery-rites and in many myths and sagas with certain
scenes and passages in the Gospels. Fundamental
differences not perceived by superficial scholarship.
Example: the Lord's Prayer. Reference to John M.
Robertson's Christianity and Mythology. Sentences of the
Lord's Prayer alleged to have existed long before the
time of Christ. Worthlessness of such research.
‘Initiation of the Ego’ inaugurated by Christ
as an essential process in evolution. Atavistic
clairvoyance once a natural faculty in men. Until the
time of Christ this could be so intensified that
penetration into the spiritual world was possible and its
health-giving forces applied in order to bring about
healing. Through Christ, the riches of the spiritual
world that had been lost with the disappearance of the
old clairvoyance could flow into the Ego even when
functioning on the physical plane. ‘Beggars for the
spirit.’ The nine Beatitudes indicate how the
Christ-filled Ego works and will in future work in each
of the members of man's being. The so-called
‘Beatitudes’ of the Slavonic Enoch.
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| Lecture 10 |
September 10, 1910 |
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Christ
Jesus the bringer of Ego-consciousness able to experience
the Kingdom of Heaven as an inner reality. Every
utterance in the Sermon on the Mount and its continuation
pervaded by the new impulse of Egohood. Power of the soul
over the body far greater in earlier times, making
healing possible. Forces of healing drawn from the
spiritual world by those who sacrificed some degree of
Ego-consciousness during procedures in the Mysteries.
Christ Jesus healed the sick in a new way, through the
forces of the Ego itself. The disciples led to higher
stages on the path into the spiritual world. Imaginations
awakened in their souls and their consciousness by day
and by night was nourished and enhanced by the magical
power emanating from Christ Jesus. The feeding of the
'four thousand' (men of the fourth epoch) and the
‘five thousand’ (men of the fifth epoch).
Christ the intermediary for the Sun-forces of the Cosmos
radiating from the seven day-constellations and the five
night-constellations; these forces are the nourishment
destined for men of the fourth and fifth epochs
respectively. The sign of Pisces. The power of
Imaginative, astral sight streamed from Christ to the
disciples; their vision of Him walking on the sea.
Constant references in the Gospels to the position of the
Sun and specific hours of the day and night indicate that
cosmic forces were penetrating into the Earth through
Christ. The Transfiguration. Three specially chosen
disciples led to the world of Devachan — the level
of spiritual experience higher than that of astral
vision. The disciples hear as well as see Christ, Elias
and Moses talking together. Christ descended once and
once only into a physical body. Before the end of the
20th century He will reveal Himself in an etheric form to
those able to perceive Him. Paul's vision at Damascus
foreshadowed an experience that will later be possible
for all men. Jeschu ben Pandira: the future Maitreya
Buddha. Inspiration of the Bodhisattva and the renewal of
Essene teachings in a new form. False Messiahs.
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| Lecture 11 |
September 11, 1910 |
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Life-giving
forces streamed from Christ to His disciples: their
increasing wisdom. Peter's avowal. Forces enhancing the
capacities of the several members of man's being are
implanted during each of the civilization-epochs. Forces
of the higher triad — Spirit-Self, Life-Spirit,
Spirit-Man — will be inculcated into human nature
in future times. The spiritual or consciousness-soul
develops like a plant into which Spirit-Self descends as
the first gift from above in those who are in advance of
their generation. Such human beings at the time of Christ
were known as ‘Sons of Men’. Recognition by
the disciples. Retention of full Ego-consciousness in the
higher world made possible by Christ. This is implicit in
all the Beatitudes. Difference between ‘Son of
Man’ and ‘Son of the living God’ or
‘Son of the Life-Spirit’. Peter's avowal did
not issue from his normal spiritual faculties but from
deeper powers only to be developed in the future. The
subconscious Father-power in Peter was the
‘rock’ upon which a community faithful to the
Christ Impulse can be founded. When Peter speaks from his
conscious faculties his words come from Ahriman, from
Satan; hence he is reproved by Christ. Blood-kinship in
human communities as an image of macrocosmic conditions
was to be replaced after Christ's coming by relationships
of a moral and spiritual character. Contrast between this
principle and the covenant with Abraham. The force that
either loosens the ties between human beings or binds
them together in love was to arise from the Ego.
‘Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound
in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall
be loosed in heaven.’ Threads of individual karma
woven into the karma of the community. The community as
an organism is to become an image of the order prevailing
in Heaven. Christ leads the disciples to the stage where
they can receive the power He himself has brought from
the Macrocosm. The principle of ‘jumps’ or
‘gaps’ in the evolutionary process between
the end of an old phase of existence and the beginning of
the new. Two ancient symbols of this principle: the sign
of Cancer and an ass and its foal. In the words,
‘Hosanna in the highest’, the supreme height
reached in Christ's earthly life is triumphantly
proclaimed. The feast of the Passover is an account of
the influx of the power that was to stream into the
disciples and eventually into all humanity. Three stages
of Initiation into the Macrocosm: Angel, Son or Sun Hero,
Father. At the first stage the Spirit-Self is working; at
the second stage the Life-Spirit has awakened; in the
very highest Initiates the Father-principle is active.
Through St. Matthew's Gospel we learn to know how the
forces of the Cosmos worked through the human body borne
by Christ and what He accomplished through His descent
into the nature of man.
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| Lecture 12 |
September 12, 1910 |
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To promote
man's ascent to the heights intended for him,
divine-spiritual Beings descend from the Sun-sphere at
crucial points in evolution and dwell for a time in human
bodies or human souls. Such Beings — ‘Sun
Heroes’ in many myths — had transferred their
arena of activity to the Sun after its separation from
the Earth. A divine Being who descends to the Earth is
known as an ‘Avatar’. Christ the greatest of
all Avatars. Preparation through the Zarathustra-Ego and
the Nathan Jesus for the descent of Christ. (See the
Lecture-Course on the Gospel of St. Luke.) All four
Evangelists tell of the Sun-Being, the ‘Son of the
living God’, but only St. Matthew and St. Luke of
the man into whom this Sun-Being could descend. The
higher ethers. Sound-ether: Harmony of the Spheres.
Life-ether: Word or Meaning. ‘Honover’
(Persian) identical with ‘Logos’ in St.
John's Gospel. The Sun Aura revealed to Zarathustra; his
prophecy of the coming of the Sun Word. Aspirants for
Initiation in the ancient Mysteries were divided into
classes. Special teaching given to some concerned what
must be achieved in outer life to become fitting vehicles
or instruments for a descending Sun-Being. Such men are
under definite leadership and there will inevitably be
similarities in the fundamental course of their lives.
The four different aspects and starting-points from which
the four Evangelists wrote of the Christ Event. The
writer of the Matthew Gospel was concerned primarily with
the physical and etheric sheaths of Christ Jesus; hence
at the Crucifixion the words recorded in this Gospel
were: ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me?’ whereas the words uttered in the Mysteries
when the spiritual nature of a man emerged from the body
and attained higher vision, were: ‘My God, my God,
how thou hast glorified me I’ The parable of the
five foolish virgins and the five wise virgins.
‘Render unto Caesar ...’ Symbolic
interpretations of the myths often lead to absurd
conclusions. The life and death of Christ Jesus represent
two stages of Initiation. The disciples had been led to
the stage where their clairvoyant vision could behold the
Risen Christ as the Spirit now pervading Earth-existence.
The Sun Aura in the Earth Aura became visible to Paul at
Damascus and the Sun Word audible to Lazarus, the one
initiated by Christ Jesus Himself. Christ entered the
spiritual sphere of Earth-existence to rescue it from the
element that produces discord. ‘I have not come to
send peace away from the Earth but to send away the
sword’ — this is the correct rendering of
words that have been distorted into the very opposite of
their true meaning. The manhood of Christ Jesus is
presented more beautifully in the Matthew Gospel than in
any other original record. When Earth-existence has
reached its goal all men will be filled with the
substance and nature of Christ in so far as as they
themselves inwardly desire this. Courage in life,
strength, hope in all our labours, stream from the
presentation in the Matthew Gospel of the human aspect of
Christ Jesus.
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| Appendix I |
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| Appendix II |
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Last Modified: 02-Nov-2024
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